Your Right to Know

The Republican-controlled state House followed its colleagues in the Senate and voted yesterday
to override Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of a major tax-cut bill, setting the stage for sharp
reductions in state personal-income taxes.

The House overrode Nixon’s veto with the support of Republicans and one Democrat, 109-46.

The override was a rebuke of Nixon, who in September lobbied so vigorously against a different
tax-cut bill championed by Republican legislators that the lawmakers failed to override his veto of
that measure.

The legislation would gradually reduce the top individual income-tax rate to 5.5 percent, from 6
percent, starting in 2017, provided state revenue is growing. It would also phase in a

25 percent deduction for business income reported on personal tax returns.